Game of Thrones season 8: Why is there 6 episodes in the new series? | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Legions of fans all over the world are patiently waiting for Game of Thrones season eight to start on HBO and Sky Atlantic. April 14 will see the last ever season air as the story of Ice and Fire comes to an end. Season eight will be the shortest to date, containing only six episodes.

Why is there only 6 episodes in Game of Thrones season 8?

The shorter season for Game of Thrones season eight is largely due to the higher production values and long episode lengths.

Co-creators David Benioff and DB Weiss confirmed back in 2016 that the seventh and eighth seasons would be shorter.

Season seven contained seven episodes but spanned a long period of time.

They confirmed to Variety in that they couldn’t continue to produce the usual 10 episodes in the 12 to 14-month timeframe.

“It’s crossing out of a television schedule into more of a mid-range movie schedule,” they told the publication.

Then in March 2017, Benioff and Weiss officially confirmed at a South by Southwest panel that the eighth season would consist of six episodes.

Entertainment Weekly reported: “From the beginning we’ve wanted to tell a 70-hour movie. It will turn out to be a 73-hour movie, but it’s stayed relatively the same of having the beginning, middle and now we’re coming to the end,” Benioff said.

“It would have been really tough if we lost any core cast members along the way, I’m very happy we’ve kept everyone and we get to finish it the way we want to.”